Published in the Iola Register on Oct. 15, 2013.

USD 333 to auction off Lincoln School

Unified School District 333 will be looking to get at least $100,000 out of the Lincoln School building when it is auctioned off on Nov. 21. The USD 333 board of education voted during its meeting Monday night in the Concordia High School media centerto set the minimum bid at $100,000 and accept the proposal from Larry Lagasse Auction & Real Estate to conduct the auction at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 21. Larry Lagasse Auction & Real Estate will receive a bid of five percent of the total sale price to conduct the auction. That includes placing and preparation of all advertising with the approximate cost of $600. Should the property not meet the minimum bid, the school district will pay Lagasse $400 plus the advertising costs. The school board voted back in April to close Lincoln School as a cost saving measure. Beverly Mortimer, superintendent of schools, reported to the board that she had looked at buildings for sale in Concordia to see what they were priced at, but there was nothing very similar to the Lincoln School building. Mortimer said that she found some school buildings for sale in Kansas.There is a building in Eureka priced at $59,000 and one in Arcadia priced at $79,000. Mortimer also said that she was checking with attorney Dana Brewer on the possibility of including in the sales agreement that the building can’t be sold to someone to be used as a school. She said that a preschool would be okay.There were some concerns raised about what the purchaser of the building may use it for. “We are not going to have a lot of control over what they do with it,” Mortimer said.In other action items during the meeting, the board approved a Learning Cooperative of North Central Kansas (LCNCK) transition from Part C to Part B Service MOU, approved the FY2014 IDEA grant application for LCNCK, approved an agreement for shared services for LCNCK with USD 224 and approved changing the Concordia High School activity fund for Renaissance from #158 to #258. The board also approved trading three Ubiquity access points to the Conway Springs school district for a two-year-old server with one year of additional warranty remaining. Concordia Junior-Senior High School principal Quentin Breese and assistant principal Bryce Wachs gave a presentation on the Panther Achievement Workshop (PAWS). Wachs said that PAWS replaced the advisory period. Advisory had been the final 30 minutes of the day. Wachs said that it was more or less a study hall format, but that the observations were there was not a lot of studying going on during advisory.The time was moved to 1:04-1:34 p.m. and the name was changed to PAWS.There is now a unified schedule for every classroom.“Everybody is doing the same thing,” Wachs said.The district also implemented the Power2Achieve curriculum.Breese gave a presentation on one of the Power2Achieve focus areas. Also during the meeting, Mortimer reported to the board that she had added a spreadsheet to the informational packet on the upcoming bond election. The spreadsheet shows the district’s bond and interest, special assessment, general fund, local option budget, capital outlay and total mill levy from 1993-94 to the present.Mortimer also showed the board members a YouTube video created by district employees that presents information on the bond election. USD 333 proposed a $5.5 million bond issue over 20 years to fund the replacement of the heating, cooling and ventilation system at the Concordia Elementary School, energy efficiency upgrades in the district and the construction of a FEMA approved safe room at the Elementary School. The bond election will be Nov. 5.Middle School principal Derek Holmes presented the board with information on the district crisis plan.